Epstein files include child porn complaint a decade before federal investigation
Maria Farmer’s 1996 FBI complaint revealed Jeffrey Epstein’s early crimes involving child pornography, yet a decade passed before an official investigation began, affecting over 1,200 victims, DOJ said.
- On Friday, the Justice Department released a handwritten complaint dated Sept. 3, 1996, confirming the FBI received an early warning from Maria Farmer.
- According to the complaint, Epstein allegedly stole photos of Farmer's 12- and 16-year-old sisters, requested pool photos, and threatened to burn her house down if she told anyone; Farmer said the agent hung up and she heard nothing for a decade.
- Of the released files, at least 550 pages are fully redacted and 180 pages mostly redacted, Farmer said she feels 'redeemed' but frustrated, while the Justice Department said it will share more in the coming weeks.
- Those omissions and the delayed probe raise questions as the 2020 internal review omitted Farmer's 1996 complaint, and the FBI began investigating Epstein only in 2006.
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52 Articles
What Is—and Isn’t—in the Newly Released Epstein Files
In September 1996, nearly a decade before Jeffrey Epstein was first arrested, a professional artist made a criminal complaint to the Federal Bureau of Investigation that accused the financier of being involved in “child pornography.” Epstein survivor Maria Farmer has insisted in the years since, as the late sex offender has faced accusations of abusing hundreds of underage girls and young women, that she contacted law enforcement about Epstein i…
Epstein Files Include Child Porn Complaint
“Justice Department files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, released Friday, included a 1996 complaint to the FBI about the disgraced financier allegedly possessing and distributing ‘child pornography’ about a decade before a federal investigation was launched into his predatory behavior with minors and young women,” the Washington Post reports.
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